Rushing through the streets of Tokyo as no more than blurred color surrounded by sudden gusts of wind, InuYasha and Sesshoumaru sprinted toward the office complex on the outskirts of the city. “Pay attention, InuYasha. Norimitsu is stronger now than he was before.”

“Stupid bastard . . . I've had enough of him,” InuYasha grimaced as they ran side by side. “Just show me where he is, and I'll take care of him . . . .”

“Stupid, perhaps, but he is sly.”

“Tetsusaiga will still cut him down.”

Sesshoumaru stopped outside an imposing structure. The building was looming, immense, easily forty stories tall, fashioned out of polished slate, shining like mirrors in the sunlight. “This is it,” InuYasha said quietly, casting a sidelong glance at his brother.

Sesshoumaru nodded, closing his eyes for a moment. “He is here.” Eyes snapping open, vague surprise registering on his face, he sighed and strode toward the front doors as he glanced back behind them, hand on the hilt of Tokijin. “He has your miko.”

“What?”

“I sense her aura. She is here.”

“Damn it! I told her—”

“Your anger will not aide her now, InuYasha. Now, come.”

Mumbling a thousand curses under his breath, InuYasha strode past Sesshoumaru and into the building.

“Get down!” Sesshoumaru bellowed as a rush of thunder filled the air. Seconds later, InuYasha was flat on his stomach being forced to the floor by his brother's hand. Shielded from view and gunfire by plant-topped marble room dividers, InuYasha glared over his shoulder. “Baka! They have guns!”

“Cowards,” InuYasha hissed then glared at Sesshoumaru again. “Would you get off my back?”

`Two humans,' InuYasha realized as he raised his sleeve to block the acrid stench of the firearm. Underneath that, he could discern the reek of the men—and Kagome's scent lingered on one of them. A low growl escaped him before he could stop it. Sesshoumaru rolled his eyes.

Taking a moment to survey their surroundings, InuYasha was relieved to see that, other than a column of pillars that ran the width of the huge room, Sesshoumaru and he were behind the only other decent cover in the place. The rows of plant dividers were fashioned of marble, and the bullets didn't seem to be able to permeate that. Straight ahead in the middle of the room was a huge receptionist desk, but that was only pathetic wood. He made a face. He could shred that in a matter of seconds, if he really wanted to . . . and he just might, on his way back out, with Kagome . . . and just because he could . . . .

Behind the desk were two huge marble staircases flanking the only elevator he could see, InuYasha snorted in disgust. He'd never been able to reconcile himself to using one. There was something about them that upset his senses, making his ears pop crazily, making him feel nauseous.

Creeping forward as he tracked the human, InuYasha could sense the man's misplaced excitement, his overwhelming arrogance. The man cocked his gun again. InuYasha stifled a growl.

The other man was hiding behind a marble pillar. From where InuYasha knelt, behind another divider, he could see his back, but to get to him would mean trying his luck in the open space between, and if he had learned nothing else in Kagome's time, he knew that bullets were faster than any youkai.

Stifling a snort, InuYasha shot forward, hidden behind another pillar only feet away from the man who dared touch Kagome. Refraining from cracking his knuckles, InuYasha slowly pulled Tetsusaiga from its scabbard. The sound of the metal scraping as it came free echoed in his ears as he grasped the hilt.

Another explosion of gunfire accompanied by a human's terrified shriek filled the empty air. The noise was cut off as quickly as it had come as the sickening crunch of bones breaking echoed all around.

In the confusion, InuYasha lunged out of his hiding place, cutting down the other human as the man tried to raise his gun. “Keh! Weak-assed bastard,” he snorted, staring down at the fallen human.

“Yeah, I know . . . now either shut the hell up and help me find her or go hide, and I'll find you when I'm done.”

Katosan and Nibori headed off with Sesshoumaru up the other stairs while InuYasha and Miroku continued upward. “Kind of like old times,” Miroku joked as he pulled his sickle. “Don't worry, InuYasha. I'll protect you.”

“Keh! Fucking monk . . . shut up already, will you?”

Miroku chuckled.

Kneeling down behind the marble banister, InuYasha sniffed carefully. Miroku pulled something out of his waistband. InuYasha glanced at him then looked back with a disgusted snort. “What the fuck is that?” he demanded, glowering at the firearm in Miroku's hand.

“It's a gun, InuYasha. You point it and—”

“I know what it is, Miroku. Why are you using that pathetic human toy?”

Miroku grimaced. “I'm head of Sesshoumaru's security, InuYasha. A sickle isn't necessarily the best answer in every situation, is it?”

“When did you learn to use one of those?”

“At a firing range. Now can we rescue Kagome?”

“Damn it . . . .”

Satisfied that this floor was empty, InuYasha and Miroku ran around the banister and along the half-wall to the base of the next set of stairs.

“What's taking you so long?” Sesshoumaru demanded as InuYasha and Miroku met up with them at the base of the stairs.

“Got into a gun debate,” Miroku commented with a grin.

Sesshoumaru shook his head as InuYasha grabbed Miroku by the front of his jacket and dragged him up the stairs.

The definite sounds of fighting as they reached the top of the stairs. “Humans,” InuYasha muttered. “Two of them.”

Miroku winced at the sound of breaking bones. “Make that one of them,” he remarked with another grimace.

Drawing up short mid-way up the stairs, InuYasha caught Miroku with a hand to his chest. “Youkai . . . .”

Miroku nodded, raising his eyes to the open space above them. The stairwell was so thick with youki it was nearly a viable thing. “I can sense them, too . . . a lot of them.”

“Playtime, monk. Put away that damn gun, will you?”

Miroku rolled his eyes but did holster the firearm.

InuYasha leaped forward, lighting at the top of the stairs as Miroku ran to catch up. Cutting through the first of the youkai that came after him with a grim smile of satisfaction, InuYasha didn't stop as he flashed Tetsusaiga with a quick jerk, bringing the blade down as he yelled, “Kaze no Kizu!”

“Well, you could have saved some for me,” Miroku grumbled as the youkai dissolved in the blaze of the Wind Scar. A low rumble from above drew both of their gazes, and Miroku shrugged. “Then again . . . .”

“What are you waiting for, baka?” Sesshoumaru called as his group hit the landing. “Your miko's life hangs in the balance, and you're wasting time staring at the ceiling?”

InuYasha snarled as he lunged for the stairs.

“Sesshoumaru . . . I want a raise,” Miroku quipped as he plunged up the stairs after InuYasha.

“I would if someone else would put away their sword,” Miroku countered.

“Keh!”

“Are they always like that?” Katosan asked.

“Worse,” Nibori answered. “Isn't that right, Uncle?”

“Shut the hell up and move!” InuYasha bellowed as he landed at the top of the next flight of stairs. Miroku was right behind him. “Well, hell's seven hounds,” InuYasha growled as more youkai came at them.

“Don't you think this is just a little redundant?” Miroku gnashed out as he held off a bear youkai with the sickle chain. “InuYasha . . . if you've got a moment? My hands are a little full . . . .”

“Keh!” InuYasha snarled as he lunged at the bear. Decimating it with his Sankon-tetsusou, Miroku jerked the chain and whipped it in a circle over his head. The scythe sailed over InuYasha's ears, embedding with a sick thump into the youkai that had been sneaking up from behind. The beast screamed as Miroku heaved against the chain, slicing the youkai straight down from skull to navel as it exploded in a violet light.

“I want that raise now,” Miroku called out as they dashed for the next flight of stairs.

“Ask me in the morning,” Sesshoumaru remarked as he tore through another youkai.

“Next time watch the ears, Monk . . . Kagome'll kill you if you maim them,” InuYasha called back.

Miroku grinned. “Yeah . . . she loves to rub them, doesn't she . . . and it's so nice of you to humor her in that . . . .”

InuYasha blushed as he hit the top of the landing. “Ain't it?”

Miroku chuckled.

“Behind you!” InuYasha yelled as he turned and saw a bat youkai buzzing straight for Sesshoumaru. The tai-youkai ducked in time to avoid the impact as InuYasha lunged forward and cut through it with his claws. “Keh! And you tell me to pay attention.”

“I could have taken it,” Sesshoumaru remarked as he shot to his feet and cut down another youkai.

“They're getting tougher,” Nibori grimaced as he fought off a boar youkai.

“Speak for yourself,” InuYasha grumbled as he cut through two youkai in one sweep of Tetsusaiga.

Miroku winced as the spider youkai he was preoccupied with managed to cut through his jacket and sleeve with one of its razor-sharp claws. Whirling in a circle, he evaded the creature's pincers as his sickle cut through the insect's skull.

“Damn, monk, you're covered in spider guts,” InuYasha remarked as he ran toward the next flight of stairs.

“Yep,” Miroku agreed, “nice, don't you think?”

InuYasha rolled his eyes as he plunged up the stairs to the next floor. “You reek,” he complained as Miroku caught up on the landing.

“You would, too, if you had `spider guts' on you. They should market this as cologne. . . .”

“Keh!” he snorted as he cut through another youkai. “I don't have time for this!”

“InuYasha-sama!”

Turning his head as Katosan called out to him, InuYasha ducked as a falcon youkai dove at his head. Lifting Tetsusaiga over his head, the falcon screamed as the blade cut through it, showering the hanyou in thick, black blood.

“Good . . . now you reek, too,” Miroku couldn't resist commenting as the two sprinted up the next flight of stairs.

“I really hate you, monk, did you know?”

“Look at it this way, InuYasha. Only another twenty floors to go.”

InuYasha snarled in frustration. “Shut the hell up, Miroku!”

Luckily the next eighteen floors were much like the previous ones. Though the youkai seemed to be tougher, there were also fewer of them. By the time the reached the thirty-eighth floor, InuYasha was covered in various guts and blood, including his own since one of the youkai had gotten in a lucky hit. Since he had been surrounded by four of them at the time and had managed to come out of it with only a scratch on his cheek for their efforts, he was quite pleased with himself even as the last of his patience wore thinner and thinner.

The only other noticeable thing was that the blue sheen of the Aoirotoku had begun to show surrounding Miroku around the twenty-second floor, as it had with Sesshoumaru, who had looked vaguely amused, Nibori's sheen had appeared around floor twenty-five, and to Katosan as well as InuYasha's surprise, the Aoirotoku had formed around him around floor thirty-three. `Keh . . . guess I don't want to kill him anymore . . . for now,' InuYasha thought when he noticed and thankful that no one made him explain it even if Miroku couldn't help but chuckle about it as the barriers grew brighter the closer they got to Kagome. InuYasha's was bright enough for his fire rat clothing to have an almost purple appearance. He only prayed Kagome would stay safe until he got to her because if Norimitsu hurt her at all, he'd rip the bastard apart slowly and painfully . . . and leave the parts for the scavenging vermin . . . .

“Why am I glowing?” Katosan asked as they reached the landing on floor thirty-six.

Miroku laughed. “Because InuYasha believes that he has to protect you . . . . See? He'll deny it, but notice the lovely shade of `Monk-in-Pain'-red on his cheeks . . . .”

“Yeah, you'll be seeing `Monk-on-his-ass'-black and blue in a minute,” InuYasha snarled as Miroku's barrier dimmed just a little as he used his claws to rip into a serpent youkai.

Miroku flicked the metal ball around, catching a raven youkai around the neck. With a quick yank and a dull snap, the bird fell. They broke toward the next flight of stairs as the other three took care of the remaining youkai.

They stepped off the landing onto the thirty-ninth floor. It looked exactly like the ground floor. The sudden rush of guns being cocked cut through the silent level. “Get back!” InuYasha snarled, shoving Miroku back down into the stairwell as he dove behind the marble banister.

“Ten on this side,” Sesshoumaru called out.

“Fifteen over here,” InuYasha replied as Miroku dug out his gun.

InuYasha grabbed the firearm and hurled it over the side of the stairwell. “Damn you, monk! That's not gonna be enough to do a damn bit of good!”

“Allow me,” Katosan said as he raced up the staircase behind InuYasha and Miroku.

Surging forward with too much speed to easily discern his movements, Katosan ripped across the floor, claws extended, taking down ten of the humans before he was jerked back, a bullet tearing through his shoulder.

On the other side, Sesshoumaru was taking care of business in much the same way. InuYasha caught the humans off-guard as he smashed Tetsusaiga's hilt against the sides of their heads, knocking them out as Miroku cracked the metal ball of his weapon against two more.

InuYasha knocked out the remaining human before turning to look for Katosan.

“I despise guns,” Katosan remarked dourly as he held his injured shoulder and staggered over to the rest of them.

Blanket disclaimer for this fanfic (will apply to this and all other chapters inChronicles): I do not claim any rights to InuYasha or the characters associated with the anime/manga. Those rights belong to Rumiko Takahashi, et al. I do offer my thanks to her for creating such vivid characters for me to terrorize.